Patsharaporn Techasintana

RNA binding proteins, such as HuR (ELAVL1), fine tune gene expression in activated T cells by interacting with their 3′ UTR AU-rich elements (AREs) via posttranscriptional gene regulation. IL-2 and many Th2 cytokine mRNAs contain 3′ UTR AREs. Thus, we hypothesized that HuR may play a critical role in CD4+ T cell differentiation by regulating IL-2 signaling pathways. We conditionally ablated HuR in CD4+ T cells (distal lck-Cre ROSA HuRfl/fl) to test this hypothesis.

RNA binding protein HuR (ELAVL1) governs transcript stability of IL-4, IL-13 and GATA-3 mRNAs, thereby controlling Th2 differentiation. We hypothesized that HuR plays a role in antigen induced T cell activation and initiation of allergic airway inflammation. We conditionally ablated HuR in T cells prior to activation (distal lck-Cre ROSA HuRfl/fl mouse). Half of mature CD4+ T cells were HuR deficient in these mice.